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I E 1 E I A L 

OF 

ROGER WILLIAMS 



PAPER READ BEFORE THE RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 

MAY 18, 1S60, 

BY ZACHARIAH ALLEN, ESQ. 



^ Were the characters of great and good men always estimated by the honors 
oestowed upon them by their neighbors, very few would be deemed excellent. 
At the present day, as in the olden time, a prophet might receive honors 
everywhere save in his own country. This has been the case in regard to 
Roger WilHams, the champion of " Soul-liberty,"' and the first theologian on 
this earth who ever theoretically advocated the separation of ^'Church and 
state,- and the first statesman who practically established religious freedom 
as the constitutional basis of civil government. 

So many years have been allowed to pass away during the discussion of the 
question of erecting a monument over the grave of Roger Williams,-the 
founder of the State of Rhode Island, that the very locahty of it is forgotten, 
lo discover the spot where have rested his neglected ashes for nearly two cen- 
turies, recourse must now be had to traditionary testimony, which is fast 
disappearing. No time is to be lost in recording what may now remain avail- 
able ; for the memory of the aged serves to illustrate the fading events of 
history, as the lingering rays of departing day afford a last glimpse of the 
outlines of a glimmering landscape. 



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Since the recent researches for the discovery of the grave of Roger Williams, 
the question is frequently asked, What are the proofs found to establish the 
identity of it ? 

To dispel any doubts which may exist in the minds of his descendants, as 
well as of the people of Rhode Island, who now manifest an interest in hon- 
oring the memory of the Founder of their State by the erection of a perma- 
nent monument over his ashes, the writer of this memorial has been induced 
to make researches to identify the place of his sepulture. Born within a few 
yards of the spring, by the side of which Roger Williams lived and died, and 
having from early youth felt a lively interest in the history of his sufferings, 
and of his beneficent labors for the welfare of mankind, the writer has made 
himself familiar with the spot, and with the local traditions connected there- 
with, for more than half a century. 

Historical records state that the death of Roger Williams occurred in the 
year 1683, and that he was buried with martial honors. The smoke of the 
musketry, temporarily hovering in the air over his grave, formed as perma- 
nent a mark of respect as was ever bestowed to honor it. Not even a rough 
stone was set up to designate the spot. 

Nearly ninety years after his death, (in 1771) it is recorded that a special com- 
mittee was appointed by the freemen of the town of Providence to ascertain 
the spot where he was buried, and to draft an inscription for a monument, 
which it was then voted to erect " over the grave of the Founder of this 
Town and Colony." One of this committee. Governor Sessions, stated to his 
neighbor, Governor Allen, that the committee had satisfactory knowledge of 
the locality of his family burial-ground, east of Benefit street, where the ex- 
plorations for the grave have recently been made ; but the troubles of the 
revolutionary war, which ensued, prevented any active exertions for ascer- 
taining the exact spot, and for erecting thereon the proposed monument. 

Mr. Moses Brown, previous to his death in the year 1836, at the age of 98 
years, was called upon by the writer for the special purpose of obtaining in- 
formation on the subject in question. Mr. Brown stated that the above de- 
scribed burial lot had always been considered as that of the family of Roger 
Williams, but that his grave was unknown. He also stated that a large burial 
ground of the early settlers of the Providence Plantations had existed on the 
south side of Bowen street, near Benefit street ; so called from its having been 
laid out for the common benefit of access to the rear of the garden lots of the 
original proprietors. 

It appears that the first settlers of Providence laid out their lots with a 
frontage on King's street, the present North and South Main streets, from 
Harrington's Lane to Wickenden street, and extending back to Hope street, 
each lot comprising about six acres. The lots on the west side of North and 
South Main streets, were reserved for warehouses and wharves, generally com- 
prising two lots of forty feet each, with a gangway on each side for access to 
the salt water. There were great tracts of woodland reserved for the common 
benefit of the original proprietors, designated as "stated commons," and 



located in the country west and north of the above described lots, which were 
called "plantations." Hence the name of '•Providence Plantations'' has 
been retained to this day as the name of this State in connection with that 
of the colony settled on the adjacent island of Rhode Island. 

The house of Roger Williams was situated on his plantation on the east side 
of North Main street. The spring known by his name was not on his planta- 
tion lot, being on the westerly side of the street, in the range of warehouse 
lots reserved by him in partnership with the other original proprietors. This 
spring, within the memory of the writer, was nearly level with the surface of 
the adjacent ground, welling forth its gushing waters through a short drain 
into a cask set in the ground for the use of cattle, thence continuing its flow 
to the river side. The sight of this living spring finally attracted Roger Wil- 
liams to turn the bow of his canoe to land at this inviting spot, after navigat- 
ing it around Fox Point. 

It was the custom of the early settlers of the Providence Plantations, as it 
still continues to be of their descendants in the country towns adjacent 
thereto, to appropriate a portion of their respective farms for a family burial 
place. In accordance with this custom, Roger Williams selected a portion of 
his plantation for the place of his sepulture. 

The preceding statements establish the locality of the family burial ground 
of Roger Williams. The identification of his grave rests upon more slender, 
but still reliable evidence. 

A communication from an anonymous writer, published In a newspaper 
printed in Providence, July 17, 1819, called the Rhode Island American., and 
re-printed in Knowles' Memoir of Roger WiUiams, (page 432,) contains the 
following ^ statement of facts communicated by the late Captain Nathaniel 
Packard, about the year 1808" : 

" When Captain Packard was about ten years old, one of the descendants 
of Roger Williams was buried at the family burial ground on the lot right 
back of the house of Sullivan Dorr, Esq. Thosfe who dug the grave, dug 
directly upon the foot of a coffin, which the people there present told him 
was that of Roger Williams. They let him down into the new grave, and he 
saw the bones in the coffin, which was not wholly decayed — and the bones had 
a long mossy substance upon them." 

This testimony, although without the authority of a signature, has been 
corroborated by the more direct and authentic testimony given by the daugh- 
ter of Captain Packard to Dr. Usher Parsons, as stated in his letter written 
in reply to inquiries addressed to him on that subject : 

" Providence, April 18th, 1860. 

Z. Allen, Esq. — My Dear Sir : 1 was informed some five years ago by 

the late Polly Packard, then more than eighty years old, that she had in child- 
hood often visited the grave of Roger Williams in company with her father, 
who, in early boyhood, had been put into the grave next to it by his father. 
The facts in the case were these : WiUiams's grave had been levelled many 



years with the surroundiug greensward, and its exact locality lost. In digging 
another grave for a new interment, the spade man came upon the bones of 
Williams, being portions of his lower extremities. Many of the inhabitanti< 
gathered to see the bones of the Founder of Rhode Island, and her grand- 
father among them ; who, actuated by a singular whim, lowered his little 
son, her father, into the grave, probably thinking that the act would make 
an indelible impression of this discovery upon his son's memory. In process 
of time, and after she and her sisters had more than once visited the spot 
with their father, the ground became levelled, and the grave had disappeared. 

But Miss Packard seemed confident that she could indicate the exact spot 
from its bearing and distance from another grave marked by a broken head- 
stone. 

I requested her to accompany me to the ground, and the spot she then in- 
dicated was exactly where Mr. S. Randall, a descendant of Williams, supposed 
it to be, from information derived from other sources ; and where, on digging 
a few days since, he found some relics of an early interment. 

Yours truly, 

USHER PARSONS." 

This direct testimony from family tradition appears to be conclusive evi- 
dence of the locality of the grave of Roger Williams. Having been a frequent 
visitor to this spot and familiarly acquainted with all the traditions relating 
thereto, the writer's earliest recollections arc associated with the excitement 
caused among his playmates by the breaking of a grave stone, by a colored 
boy, who had amused himself by rolling small boulders down the steep de- 
clivity of the hill-side, directed against this grave stone with the mischievous 
design of knocking it over like one of a set of nine-pin.«. This he succeeded 
in doing, and the fragments of the top of it remained a long time on the spot. 
On their disappearance, Mr. Dorr, the proprietor of the orchard, caused the 
lower half, still retaining its erect position, to be removed to a store-house for 
the purpose of preserving it. 

At that time there were a few pointed fragments of rough stone projecting 
just above the gretnsward, which were evidently placed there as rude monu- 
ments to mark some graves. Mr. Theodore Foster states in his letter to Mr. 
Williams Thayer, Jr., dated May 21st, 1819, in reply to inquiries about his 
ancestor's death and burial, (Knowles's History of Roger Williams, page 430,) 
that when he first saw the spot, " the foot gravestone was gone, and the top 
of the other broken off, so that only the lower part appeared without any in- 
scription.'' It is manifest that had there been a stone at the head of the 
grave of Roger Williams when one of his descendants was buried, as narrated 
by Captain Packard, the digging in such close proximity to it would have been 
carefully avoided. Probably Mr. Foster made a mistake in this statement 
contained in the same letter, relating that "Mr. Williams sold from his estate 
» lot on the main street to Mr. Gabriel Bernon, a very respectable French gen- 
tleman of great property and sincere religion, who came from Rochelle. 



France, where he had suffered much and been imprisoned two j'ears on ac- 
count of his religion ; which led Mr. Williams to esteem and respect him." 
The deed of the lot referred to by Mr. Foster as having been given by Mr. 
AVilliams to Gabriel Beruon, (the grandfather of the writer,) has been ex- 
amined and proves to have been received from the committee of the original 
proprietors of the colony, and contains the conveyance of the lot in which the 
spring is situated. Gabriel Bernon was one of the Huguenots who fled from 
France at the revolution of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, being two years after 
the death of Roger Williams, thus conclusively showing Mr. Foster's mis- 
takes. 

On the fragment of the grave stone still preserved is a part of the inscrip- 
tion, exhibiting the last letter of a name terminating with n, probably 

that of Ashton, which family was connected by marriage with that of Roger 
"^V'illiams. 

The remaining inscription records : 

" , who departed this life ye — May, 1739, 63 years her age." 

This date confirms the statement of Capt. Packard, that " he was about ten 
years old when he was let down into the new grave and saw the bones, &c. 
He was born in 1730, and this inscription bears date 1739. 

The following details of the disinterment of the remains contained in the 
seven graves of this little family burial lot, will be interesting as a historical 
record of the noble effort recently made by Mr. Stephen Randall to rescue the 
character of the descendants of Roger Williams, as well as of the people of 
the State of Rhode Island, from the imputation of a want of reverence for the 
memory of the Founder of their State. 

After the lapse of 177 years of oblivious neglect, the researches for the iden- 
tification of the grave were finally commenced on the 22d day of March, 1860, 
in the presence of several gentlemen, who were invited to witness the pro- 
cesses of the disinterment. The assistance of two experienced superintend- 
ents of the public Burial Grounds was obtained to direct carefully the re- 
searches. Pointed iron rods were procured for piercing through the green- 
sward, to ascertain where the texture of the subsoil might be rendered loose 
by former excavations, and suitable boxes were prepared to receive the ex- 
humed remains. ' 

The first preliminary operation was the stripping off the turf from the sur- 
face of the ground occupied by the graves, all comprised within less than one 
square rod. The greensward covering the sloping hillside presented to view a 
nearly uniform surface. After the removal of the turf and loam, down to 
the hard surface of the subsoil, the outlines of seven graves became manifest, 
the three uppermost on the hillside being those of children, and the four 
lower ones, those of adults. 

It was immediately discovered that two of the latter adjoined each other, 

thus manifestly showing, in accordance with the testimony of Capt. Packard, 

that when the last one of the two was dug, the end of the coffin contained in 

the other must have been laid open to view. This proximity is delineated on 

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the plat of the land which Mr. Randall has caused to be made to exhibit the 
relative positions of the graves. 

The easterly grave was evidently the most recent, as the exact shape of the 
coffin wae visible by a carbonaceous black streak of the thickness of the edge 
of the sides of the coffin, with the ends distinctly defined. The rusted remains 
of the hinges afad nails were found in their places, with some rotten fragments 
of wood, and a single round knot. The nails are of wrought iron, with the 
heads flattened edgewise to resemble brad heads. This was done to permit the 
heads to penetrate deep into the wood and out of sight in the finished coffin. 

The utmost care was taken in scraping away the earth from the bottom of 
the grave of Roger Williams. Not a vestige of any bone was discoverable, 
nor even of the lime dust which usually remains after the gelatinous part of 
the bone is decomposed. So completely had disappeared all the earthly re- 
mains of the Founder of the State of Rhode Island, in the commingled mass 
of black, crumbled slate stone and shale, that they did not " leave a wreck 
behind." By chemical laws, we learn that all flesh, and the gelatinous mat- 
ter giving consistency to the bones, become finally resolved into carbonic acid 
gas, water and air, but the solid lime dust of the decomposed bones was here 
doubtlessly absorbed by roots or commingled with the earth in the bottom of 
the grave, being literally the " ashes of the dead." This is all that remained 
to be deposited in the cinerary urns, which in classic days were used for re- 
ceiving the residue of the human body after being burnt in the brick furnaces 
that once formed an important appendage to every cemetery. 

By the side of the grave of Roger Williams was another, which was sup- 
posed to be that of his wife ; for wonderfully preserved therein was found a 
lock of braided hair, being the sole remaining human relic. All else had dis- 
appeared in the lapse of more than 170 years, during which this tress of hair 
had survived every other portion of the body equally exposed to the wet 
earth. 

The reason for which this location had been so soon abandoned as a burial spot 
became evident in the almost impenetrable hardness of the soU, composed of 
shale, which rendered necessary the use of steel-pointed bars and picks to 
penetrate it. So near the surface of ground is the substratum of shale rock, 
which constitutes nearly the whole mass of Prospect Hill, that water was 
found percolating the soil at the bottom of one of the excavations which were 
made. 

It appears that in this vicinify, on the gravelly soil a few hundred feet be- 
low on the hill side, the Indians once had a cemetery. At the foot of Bowen 
street, skeletons, with the remains of Indian implements, and a copper kettle, 
were found. Many of the early settlers of Providence were there buried. 

Along the whole range of Benefit street were a succession of orchards plant- 
ed on the hill-side, above the garden lots. In these orchards were the burial 
lots of the families which occupied the homes below on the east side of North 
and South Main streets, commencing with the burial lot of the family of 
Whipple, at the junction of Constitution Hill with Benefit street ; next was 



that of Roger TTilliams's family— of Olney, Waterman, Crawford, Tillinghast, 
Cooke, Ashton, and others. In the course of modern improvements, most of 
these remains have been removed to the North Burial Ground. Near Bowen 
street, whilst cultivating a garden, Nicholas Esten pulled up the fragments of 
a human skull, attached to the roots of a cabbage. 

A similar and very remarkable exhibition of the powers of vegetable life in 
active pursuit of appropriate nourishing food, even in the depths of a human 
grave, constituted one of the most interesting phenomena in a philosophical 
point of view, disclosed during the researches that have been described, serv- 
ing to show that nothing useful as food for plants is wastefully lost in the 
economy of nature, and that even our very graves are ransacked by rambling 
roots, as weU as by the crawling worms, that convert every charnel house into 
a banqueting hall. 

On looking down into the pit whilst the sextons were clearing it of earth, 
the root of an adjacent apple tree was discovered. This tree had pushed 
downwards one of its main roots in a sloping direction and nearly straight 
course towards the precise spot that had been occupied by the skull of Roger 
Williams. There making a turn conforming with its circumference, the root 
followed the direction of the back bone to the hips, and thence divided into 
two branches, each one following a leg bone to the heel, where they both 
turned upwards to the extremities of the toes of the skeleton. One of the 
roots formed a slight crook at the part occupied by the knee joint, thus pro- 
ducing an increased resemblance to the outlines of the skeleton of Roger Wil- 
liams, as if, indeed, moulded thereto by the powers of vegetable life. This 
singularly formed root has been carefully pi-eserved, as constituting a very 
impressive exemplification of the mode in which the contents of the grave had 
been entirely absorbed. Apparently not sated with banqueting on the re- 
mains found in one grave, the same roots extended themselves into the next 
adjoining one, pervading every part of it with a net-work of voracious fibres 
in their thorough search for every particle of nutritious matter in the form 
of phosphate of lime and other organic elements constituting the bones. At 
the time the apple tree was planted, all the fleshy parts of the body had 
doubtlessly been decomposed and dispersed in gaseous forms ; and there was 
then left only enough of the principal bones to serve for the roots to foUow 
along from one extremity of the skeleton to the other in a continuous course, 
to glean up the scanty remains. Had there been other organic matter present 
in quantity, there would have been found divergent branches of roots to en- 
velope and absorb it. This may serve to explain the singular formation of 
the roots into the shape of the principal bones of the human skeleton. These 
disclosures are corroborated by the artificial use of bones as a manure in prac- 
tical agriculture. 

Similar instances have been noticed in excavating to remove the remains of 
human bodies from old burial grounds, to reach which the roots of trees have 
been found extended in nearly a direct line to very considerable distances. 
The roots of a willow tree have been discovered to have penetrated beneath 



the foundation walls of an ancient church in this city, and through the dry 
earth beneath the floor to lap their fibrous tissues around the skulls and 
bones buried there. They were silently absorbing into the circulations of the 
sap vessels the remains of the bodies, as in the instance which has been de- 
scribed. 

The question is often asked, how can a tree or plant puFh out their roots in 
such direct lines to reach distant deposits of their appropriate food, unless 
they are endued with some kind of instinctive knowledge to guide them ? 
This supposition of the endowment of plants with any such instinctive intel- 
ligence is rendered unnecessary, if it be considered that the gases issuing 
from decomposing organic bodies buried in the earth, permeate porous soil, 
and reach the distant fibrous roots. By contact with them, the percolating 
stream of gases becomes consolidated into woody fibres at the nearest point 
of contact in a direct line between the root and the decomposing body, form- 
ing continuous accretions at the elongating end of the root, until it becomes 
connected by contact with the source of its nutritious food. This is the nat- 
ural result of the movement of the gas toward the root of the tree, and not 
of the movement of the root to reach its food, as appearances might seem to 
indicate. 

These researches for the discovery of the grave of Roger Williams have led 
to these developments of several interesting facts, showing the actual trans- 
mutations of the organic matter constituting the human body, A portion of 
it appears to have been revived into the wood of the trunk and branches of 
an apple tree, constituting fuel capable of giving motion to the mechanism of 
a locomotive engine if burnt in the boiler ; and into the fruit capable of ex- 
citing movements of the mechanisms of animal bodies when used as food to 
be burnt in their lungs. Another portion of the less solid matter gives anima- 
tion to the devouring worms, and the remainder ascends into the air in the 
form of the gases which are absorbed by the leaves of plants. The incorpo- 
ration of the lifeless elements of organic matter into the bodies, the grains, 
and the fruits of plants, and the reincorporation ot the latter in the form of 
food into the bodies of living animals, is unceasingly going on, thus continu- 
ally reviving and quickening dead organic matter under the control of ever- 
renewed life and intelligence. Under this view, the entire disappearance of 
every vestige of the mortal remains of Roger Williams teaches after his 
death an impressive lesson of the actual physical resurrection of them, by 
ever-acting natural causes, into renewed states of existence constituting a 
physical victory over the grave, as his precepts and example, before his death, 
have taught the greater moral victory of the Christian faith over worldly op- 
pression. 

At the close of these careful excavations, and during the disappointment 
which ensued from finding only a parcel of roots nestled into the place of the 
remains of the Founder of the State of Rhode Island, all present turned to 
the innocent looking apple tree, as the thief that had stolen them away. 
There was no mistake, for it had been caught in the act of robbing a grave and 



of appropriating the conteuts to its own use, re-incorporating tliem into its 
living trunk and branches. The swollen buds showed that it was preparing 
to show off its spoils in a new suit of green leaves, with gay blossoms of many 
colors, as banners rejoicingly hung out. It was readily anticipated that it 
would soon incorporate a portion of these spoils into golden cheeked apples to 
tempt the owner of the orchard to participate in the fruits of this robbery. 
One of the gentlemen present, impressed with the suspicion that " the par- 
taker is as bad as the thief," exclaimed to the proprietor of the orchard, who 
was present — " It is sufiiciently manifest why nothing is left of Roger Williams, 
for you have been eating him up in the shape of apples."' 

The accused party admitted that appearances were against him, and sug- 
gested the question that, as his father had planted the tree and eaten most of 
the fruit, whether he might not himself be considered as one of the family off- 
spring of the old philanthropist ? 

The people of Rhode Island have been long reproached for the want of due 
reverence for the founder of their State. To explain the cause of this neg- 
lect, \vithout attempting to apologize for it, reference must be had to the early 
history of the first settlers of New England. 

Extreme hardship and privations awaited all the emigrants who- first ad- 
ventured forth as pioneers to clear away primaeval forests, and to battle with 
the native inhabitants for the possession of their hunting grounds. In these 
battles the first settlers of Providence became involved, and their town was 
burnt in revenge for the wrongs committed on the Indians by the neighboring 
colonies. They had continual struggles for obtaining daily food for the living 
with no spare means for erecting monuments over the dead. The pioneer of 
the ancient forests deemed himself happy when he bad succeeded in establish- 
ing his family in a log cabin, and in planting a few acres of corn among the huge 
stumps of trees. At his death, the neighbors gathered around his humble cabin, 
and bore away his body to a convenient corner of the farm. No sculptor was 
there to record his name in brass or marble ; and the only mark of his solitary 
grave was the little mound raised above the level of the adjacent green sward 
by the fresh addition of " earth to earth, ashes to ashes.'- On the widowed 
mother of orphan children then devolved, as an only heritage, increased toilfs 
with diminished means of stibsistence. 

That such was the condition of the family of Roger Williams, is recorded 
in one of his touching letters describingthe visit of his good friend. Governor 
Winslow : " On departing, he slipped a piece of gold into the hand of my wife, 
for the supply of my immediate necessities." 

Then, again, one of the prevalent sect^ of Christians in this colony— the 
Quakers, Avere conscientiously scrupulous about indulging in the worldly van- 
ity of setting up a stone with a sculptured name to perpetuate the memory of 
a departed friend, deeming every such memorial of human affections a wicked 
monument of human pride. 

These peculiar conditions of the state of society as it existed during the 
period of the first settlement of the Providence Plantations, have given an 



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appearance of stoical indifference, and even of a want of decent regard for the 
memory of the dead. 

This reproach of neglect of the memory of Roger Williams will probably 
cease with the success of the efforts now making to raise a monument to honor 
his name. Ample means of wealth and luxury have followed in later days the 
early period of privations ; and the people of Rhode Island will now appear 
to be unworthy participants of the blessings of civil and religious liberty, If 
they continue longer to neglect to honor the great champion of human rights, 
who first on their favored soU established " soul liberty" as the basis of civil 
government, and proposed the separation of " Church and State" throughout 
the world 



HDKHKY OF CONGRESS 




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